R2 ready for Discovery's final mission

NASA Photo/The Associated PressR2, a 300-pound humanoid robot, consists of a head and a torso with human-like hands and arms and can use the tools station crew members use.

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- You won't find C3PO aboard but NASA's Robonaut 2, better known as R2, is packed and ready to blast into space next week aboard the space shuttle Discovery for its first real work assignment at the International Space Station.

Also, as a part of Discovery's final mission, NASA will host a "Tweetup" and give 50 Twitter followers the opportunity to go inside the heart of a shuttle mission with a visit to the Johnson Space Center on Nov. 9.

This will be Discovery's 39th mission as NASA retires its three remaining shuttles.

The orbiting lab and its six crew members were never in danger from a chunk of a NASA research satellite that was launched in 1991. The debris originally was projected to come within one-tenth of a mile of the space station while the latest estimate put the close approach at a half-mile. Because of the uncertainty, NASA elected to move the space station.

And, over the weekend, technicians replaced a pair of seals in a fuel line aboard Discovery that had been leaking. Engineers suspect contamination may have hampered the original seals.

Mike Moses, a launch manager, said "it's a huge testament" to everyone who got Discovery ready for launch, given the hundreds of layoffs that struck the shuttle program at the beginning of October, with more to come as the shuttle program winds down.

Endeavour is scheduled to lift off at the end of February with a magnetic spectrometer for the space station.

That will be it, unless money is provided for one extra shuttle flight. If approved, Atlantis would close out the 30-year program.

R2 is the product of an advanced robotics partnership between NASA and General Motors that began in 2007. The 300-pound humanoid robot consists of a head and a torso with human-like hands and arms and can use the tools station crew members use.

In the future, the humanoid robots may be used as assistants or stand-ins for astronauts during spacewalks or for tasks too difficult or dangerous for humans.

The R2 technology will also help improve workplace and vehicle safety through the advanced sensor capabilities, according to GM. Several current Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles offer crash avoidance technologies that use sensor technology, including lane departure warning, side blind zone alert, adaptive cruise control and rear park assist.

The dexterity and sensitivity of R2's hands could assist in manufacturing, as well.

"We envision the R2 technology transfer will enable GM to build better, safer, higher quality vehicles in a more flexible, more competitive and safer manufacturing environment," said Alan Taub, GM's vice president of Global Research and Development.

Tweetup participants will tour the center; view mission control and astronauts' training facilities; and speak with managers, flight directors, trainers and astronauts. The participants also will meet the team behind the tweets on NASA and NASA-Johnson.

"The Tweetup attendees will get to visit the home of mission control during one of the last two scheduled shuttle flights," said Stephanie Schierholz, social media manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "In addition, they will get to share their experience of the excitement of human spaceflight with their followers around the world."

While Discovery's impending retirement did not come up at Monday's flight review, it was on the minds of many. Discovery, after all, is the shuttle fleet leader, first rocketing into orbit in 1984.

"It's going to be hard to see her retire," said launch director Mike Leinbach. "But we need to do what we need to do for the agency. So we'll get on with her final flight. "We'll make it the best one ever."